Shimla, October 8
Degradation of “Queen of Hills” being caused due to excessive and unplanned development has attracted global concern with the World Monuments Fund (WMF), including the Civic Centre in core of the erstwhile summer capital, in its latest list of endangered monuments.

The Civic Centre stretching from the neo-Gothic Christ Church to the Central Telegraph Office is one of the 93 sites in the latest list --- 2010 World Monument Watch--- compiled by the WMF, a non-profit organisation, working to identify and preserve the world’s endangered cultural landmarks. Besides it, three more sites in the country, the Chiktan Castle, the 17th century Dechen Namgyal Monastery in Jammu and Kashmir and Qila Mahmudabad in Uttar Pradesh, have figured in the list.

The small stretch in the heart of the city boasts some of the historical edifices of the British era which stand out for their architectural grandeur. They include The Gaiety Theatre (restored recently), the Christ Church, Municipal Library, Town Hall, General Post Office and Central Telegraph Office. These imperial buildings housed institutions of power during the pre-independence days when the city served as the summer capital of British India.

The WMF report observes in the post colonial context that appreciation for Shimla’s architecture has flourished and values of this heritage have been embraced by the local population. However, increased and unplanned development has caused considerable degradation to the town’s historic urban fabric. Collective action is proposed to ensure its preservation, including an overall management plan for the historic district, conservation projects for select historic structures, and sustainable adaptive reuse of those structures.

The inclusion of the core of Shimla, which has been virtually transformed into a concrete jungle, over the past three decades after it became the capital of Himachal Pradesh, in the list of endangered monuments, is not surprising. Successive governments have failed to regulate development of the city and even Prime Minister Manmohan Singh has expressed concern over its continuing aesthetic and environmental degradation.

Dharamsala, October 8
Contractual appointments carried by successive governments in the state are a source of back-door entries. They are also leading to anomalies in service cadres which has become a perennial source of protests by one cadre or another in different parts of the state.

The previous Congress government recruited 400 doctors on contractual basis at fixed emoluments of Rs 16,000 per month. Just before the last Assembly elections, the Congress regularised services of all but 72 doctors working on contract.

After the change in government, the present BJP government also started recruiting doctors through the Rogi Kalyan Samitis (RKS). Under the new set of rules framed by the BJP, doctors recruited through the RKS were paid Rs 20,000 per month. They were also entitled to an allowance of Rs 3,000 per month for working in rural areas, Rs 6,000 in a difficult areas and Rs 9,000 in tribal areas.

However, the 72 doctors, recruited by the previous government and left out of regularisation process, have become an entirely different category in the health department. While services of doctors who were recruited along with them have been regularised, doctors recruited later are also getting higher salary as compared to them.

The affected 72 doctors are getting just Rs 16,000 per month and are unsure about their status. The Medical Officers’ Association of the state has requested the government to take a decision regarding the status of the affected doctors.

Dr Ajay Datta, president, Himachal Pradesh Medical Officers’ Association, while talking to The Tribune, said they had taken the case of doctors with the government many times in vain.

Meanwhile, 14,000 PTA teachers, recruited by the previous government, are also facing a similar fate. The previous government, instead of carrying out recruitment through the State Staff Selection Board, devised a new method and recruited them through Parent Teacher Associations (PTAs) of various schools. The result was charges of nepotism and corruption by the BJP that was in Opposition at that time.

Once in power, the BJP started removing teachers recruited through the PTAs. The affected teachers are now on roads.

Today, they carried a rally here, protesting against their removal from services.

When constitutional boards like the Staff Selection Commission for subordinate services and Public Service Commission for gazetted services were formed in the state, the practice of recruiting employees on contract through an alternative way only means facilitating back-door entries.

Shimla, October 8
PWD Minister Gulab Singh and Irrigation and Public Health Minister Ravinder Singh Ravi have refuted the allegation of Union Steel Minister Virbhadra Singh that the government was patronising land mafia and asserted that the successive Congress regimes had amended the Land Reform and Tenancy Act to dilute Section 118.

In a joint statement, here today, the ministers ridiculed the charge and said the former Chief Minister had crossed all limits of decency by persistently always indulging in politically motivated, mischievous and false statements. It seemed that he was least bothered about his functioning as the Union minister and on every visit to the state he was making such misleading statements to derive political mileage.

They further said nowadays statements were being given by him with an eye on the ensuing by-elections to the two assembly segments as his wife Pratibha Singh was one of the contender from the Rohru seat. Such tactics would not cut much ice with the people of the state who were aware of his motives.

It started way back in 1976 when first amendment was made in Section 118 to empower the government to grant permission to non-agriculturist to purchase land up to 20 bighas for agriculture and horticulture and 500 sq m for residential purpose. The second amendment was made in 1988 to pave way for including the constructed areas which was not subservient for agricultural purposes in the category for which permission under Section 118 was not required. 

Again in 1995 when he was the Chief Minister, the Act was amended to enhance the period of putting land in use for the purpose for which it was granted from two years to three years. The 1997 amendment excluded transfer of built up areas and transfer by way of lease of land or building in urban areas from the preview of Section 118.

Dharamsala, October 8
A suspected Chinese spy who was arrested from a hotel in Mcleodganj in December, 2008, will finally be deported to China. Li Suan would finally be able to fly back to his country after deputy commissioner, Kangra, RS Gupta, decided to give him a grant of Rs 15,000.

Li Suan was arrested by the police on December 12 and a case under the Foreigner Act was registered against him. He was interrogated by various security agencies. Initially the agencies faced problemd in interrogating the accused due to language barrier. He was produced in the court that remanded him into judicial custody.

The court later ordered the deportation of Li Suan taking into consideration the sentence he already faced while being lodged in a jail under judicial custody. After the court order a team of the Himachal police took Li Suan to Delhi for deportation. However, the accused just had Rs 16,000 where as the cost of air ticket to China was Rs 31,000. The police officials took Li to the Chinese embassy that allegedly refused to extend any help to the accused.

He was brought back to Himachal and an idea was floated to send him back to China through a land route. However, the proposal was turned down by the Union Government and Li Suan continued to languish in a Dharamsala jail.

Yesterday, Li received the news of death of his father. He once again pleaded for some grant before the deputy commissioner, Kangra, so that he can meet his family. The deputy commissioner obliged and issued a grant of Rs 15,000 to the beleaguered Chinese national. With another 16,000 available with him the Chinese national can now buy the air ticket worth Rs 31000 to fly back to his country.

Now a police team would take Li to Delhi tomorrow from where he would deported by air. Kangra SP Atul Fulzele admitted that the Chinese national would be sent back to his country tomorrow.

Shimla, October 8
No new case of swine flu (Influenza-A H1N1) was reported in the state today. An official spokesperson pointed out that the case reported from Badsar in Hamirpur district was an old positive contact case detected on October 5, 2009. The infected student was from Alpine School, Pinjore.

The student had travelled along with positive symptoms from Panchkula to Himachal in Ghumarwin tehsil in Bilaspur district and later to native Jajri village in Badsar. He was already put on treatment by the Rapid Response Team (RRT), Bilaspur.

The said contact case had been kept under isolation at home and was showing improvement. All other cases on treatment in Solan and Bilaspur districts were also improving. Medical officer, health, Hamirpur, along with medical team visited the village and conducted an information, education and communication (IEC) camp and detailed about symptoms of swine flu to create awareness among the people.

He said no death had occurred due to viral fever in Thanakalan block of Una district. The death of a three-month-old child in Bangana few days back was caused due to pneumonia. The child was referred to the District Hospital, Una, in a critical state. The CMO visited Bangana and Thanakalan blocks and instructed health officials to keep vigil on suspected fever cases and provide immediate treatment.

Dharamsala, October 8
Hailstorm hit the region for the second time in a week. It lashed the region this evening around 6 pm and lasted for about 25 minutes. Hail in lower areas was accompanied by snow in higher reaches of Dhauladhar mountain ranges that lowered the temperature in the region considerably.

The hail is likely to increase grievances of farmers of the region. Their paddy crop was extensively damaged during the last hailstorm also.

The farmers alleged that the paddy crop in most of the region had developed grain. The recent heavy rainfall in the region had led to collapse of paddy stem. The grains in paddy either get damaged or re-germinate in the fields causing almost total damage of crop.

The farmers have reported damage to vegetable crop due to hailstorm. Farmers of the Chota Bhangal area, where people are mostly dependent on vegetable crop, had reported almost total damage to vegetable crop due to hailstorm that hit the area recently.

The district administration had sanctioned a grant of Rs 25 lakh as relief to farmers. However, according to the state rules no farmer can be given a compensation of more than Rs 7,000.

The recent rains are supplementing the problems of farmers who were hit by scanty rains during monsoons. In many areas of the state, the farmers had re-sown crops after their initial crops failed due to drought-like conditions in the monsoons.

Shimla, October 8
Horticulture Minister Narender Bragta yesterday requested the Centre to formulate a separate policy for food processing industry for hill states of Himachal Pradesh, Uttarakhand and Jammu and Kashmir, keeping in view typical and uniform geographical and topographical conditions of these states.

While speaking at the first meeting of States Food Processing Ministers Conference at Vigyan Bhawan in New Delhi, Bragta also requested the Centre to provide attractive incentives in hill areas for food processing so as to attract private investment in this sector.

He pleaded for setting up of a national-level institute for higher education in food processing sector and offered to provide land and other suitable infrastructure for such an institute in the state.

He requested Union Food Processing Minister Subodh Kant Sahay to remove the cap fixed on the Controlled Atmosphere (CA) facilities so as to strengthen the cold chain infrastructure in Himachal.

Hamirpur, October 8
The Hamirpur district administration has launched SMS Gateway Service to provide transparent and efficient services to people and to ensure optimum use of e-governance services in the working of administration.

Starting this service at Hamirpur here yesterday, Hamirpur DC Abhishek Jain said, “In the beginning this service is being started in Shimla, Solan and Hamirpur districts by the state government and later it will be extended to the entire state.”

He said the SMS Gateway service was an endeavour of the state government to keep pace with the technological advancements in information and technology sector and also to bring in efficiency.